The 2005-06 Nuggets season, once full of promise and huge expectation, died in a swirl of dysfunction and a first-round playoff loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. And that disorder was planted in the playoffs one year earlier.

On the night before the team’s 2005 playoff series against San Antonio, coach George Karl gathered a handful of personnel – minus then general manager Kiki Vandeweghe – in one of the team’s hotel rooms and asked a piercing, stunning question. According to Nuggets officials who were in the room, Karl wanted to know: “Who are you with, Kiki or me?”

And he surveyed the room seeking individual answers.

Karl disputes that characterization of the meeting. But that night and Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke’s failed contract talks with Vandeweghe following the playoff loss to the Spurs were the origins of the divisiveness that marked this past Nuggets’ season, team employees say.

A season that produced the Nuggets’ first division title since 1987-88 was littered with bouts of self-preservation extending from management to coaches to players. It ended with a frustrating third consecutive loss in the first round of the playoffs.

In this three-day series, The Post explores the highs and lows of the Nuggets’ season, one that saw the atmosphere around the team become one of paranoia. Kenyon Martin’s rocky relationship with Karl and some teammates fueled the discord. Through all that, team officials see a bright future.

The series is the result of interviews with several Nuggets players – each of whom except Martin requested anonymity – with Kroenke, Nuggets coaches and front-office personnel, NBA player agents, NBA executives, and coaches and scouts who disclosed conversations they had with persons throughout the Nuggets’ organization.

“It was frustrating,” one Nuggets player said about the season’s chaos. “It was always there. Like a cloud.”

Karl explains the meeting in San Antonio before last year’s playoffs this way:

“I had dinner watching the playoffs before we played our playoff game in San Antonio. There were eight or nine people there. We were in a hotel suite. There were coaches, trainers, other staff. Me telling the group are you with Kiki or are you with me? I never wanted any part of that. I told everyone at the dinner and on our staff that you can only serve one general. You may have two bosses. But you can only have one general.

“Now, that might be interpreted for something else. You could take that and throw a log on a fire. That is what people sometimes do.”

Karl said that when he took over in the middle of the 2004-05 season, he learned quickly Vandeweghe, former coach Jeff Bzdelik and Kroenke had not been in sync.

“(They) had been miles apart. I tried to bring Kiki and the owner together. There was a break. Bringing Doug Moe in as an assistant coach was a big part of bringing things together.”

Once the Nuggets were toppled by San Antonio in five games, Vandeweghe and Kroenke continued contract talks. Both appeared interested in not having Vandeweghe enter the 2005-06 season in the final year of his five-year deal.

But as the summer wore on, Kroenke heard reports Vande- weghe and his representatives were talking to the media about the negotiations. This irked Kroenke, a team official said. Then Kroenke learned Vande- weghe had talked to media members about private team business, particularly about a Nuggets’ attempted deal for Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas that Kroenke had supposedly nixed.

That incensed Kroenke, who has adamantly denied getting in the way of signing Arenas.

The contract talks abruptly ended. Once Kroenke cut talks with Vandeweghe last summer, Kroenke’s friend and confidant, Bret Bearup, a financial adviser, began having an increased presence in everything Nuggets. During most of the past season, Nuggets front-office people say, Vandeweghe’s communication with Kroenke had to flow through Bearup.

The friction at the top filtered down through the organization. A Nuggets season marked by injuries, mistrust, drama and chaos ensued.

Fragmentation of Nuggets

Injuries, player rebellion and outright freakish things fragmented the Nuggets much of last season.

They played 62 games without two or more of their top 10 players. Center Nene missed 81 of the 82 regular-season games when he blew out his right knee in the season opener.

Voshon Lenard refused to enter a game in the final seconds of a November game versus New Orleans/Oklahoma City. Martin, after an expletive-laced outburst at coaches and players, was suspended after Game 2 of the playoffs. Ruben Patterson was benched for Game 5 of the playoffs after a blowup at Karl.

Rookie guard Julius Hodge was shot three times while driving his car on Interstate 76 in early April. Karl battled his own cancer scare and another with his son, Coby. Karl was suspended by the league for the season’s first two games and, later, for two more.

Meanwhile, players grumbled privately about management’s mistrust of each other, players’ mistrust of each other and about Carmelo Anthony’s star status. Karl is perceived as heavy-handed and rude in dealing with the players.

They complained about Martin’s injuries and antics, about Anthony whispering that the talent around him was ill-conceived, about Earl Boykins’ frequent and errant long shots and about Boykins being a “snitch” for Karl, and about point guard Andre Miller’s too-deliberate style.

Thus far, the fallout has fallen squarely on Vandeweghe, who left soon after the season after meeting with Kroenke. Vande- weghe declined several interview requests for this series.

“We had high expectations, healthy ones, way high,” a Nuggets player said. “But the atmosphere all year was real bad. The division started with George and Kiki and Stan and whatever the role was for Bret Bearup. Everybody in the whole franchise took on the attitude that they had to be loyal to somebody.

“There was too much off-the-court stuff and it started at the top. Whose side are you on? Kiki? We knew he was not going to be here. George and Stan and Bret will be here. All of the people Kiki brought in, they are being looked at now and wondering: Can we trust you?”

The Nuggets were 8-8 in November, 6-9 in December and 11-5 record in January. They finished strong to win their first division title in 18 years, with a 44-38 regular-season record.

Given the injuries, and the turmoil, those are monumental accomplishments, a Nuggets official said. Given that Karl had led the team to a 32-8 record upon taking over in 2004-05, following Michael Cooper, who replaced Bzdelik, how could Karl now be the culprit, the official asked.

“We had most of the year with seven or eight guys practicing,” the official said, requesting anonymity. “We went through hell this year. We had a great basketball team considering all the injuries we had. Considering we were a team that could not shoot a jump shot. I’d have no problem with Karl coaching me. This team has had three different coaches with a sob story from the players on each one. Guys are making excuses. They are running a con. This was a funky, unusual year. These players were immature.”

Dictator to manager

Karl entered this season with his goal of winning the Northwest Division. He knew his team had yet to learn how to win in the playoffs after consecutive first-round losses.

He called the months of November and December two of the toughest on the schedule. Yet, he said, his team survived, despite losing Nene, taking the “hammer” out of his hands, he said. He took blame for his suspensions, the first for attending offseason workouts of college players, including his son, that the league had not sanctioned, the second for criticizing officials.

“Losing Nene, I had to move from a dictator to a manager,” Karl said. “A coaching year goes to a managing year. The cancers, those were tough psychological hills to climb. My staff had to pick me up more than they should have. I can’t deny at times I was not operating on a full tank. I had to persevere through it. Injuries were the most consistent thing about the season. In November and December, when Marcus Camby and Earl went down, we were playing without four of our top guys. I didn’t want that excuse.

“The magnifying glass is strong. The season had way too much drama. It takes energy out of it. It takes away the chance to play physically at a very intense level. A lot of times we walked off the court last year and had not played with enough energy. There was way too much drama. You can bitch about it or fix it. We fixed it enough to win a division championship. We fixed it enough to move forward.”

He credits his players for “fighting hard to keep the ship in a good place.”

Several Nuggets officials, though, said Karl talked too frequently about Vandeweghe’s contract situation to the media early in the season, fanning flames. Karl disagrees.

“Kiki and I had three or four good conversations on where he was. I did not see a window open for him here. Could I have done more? Yeah. I walked away. I did not want to be in that. Kiki and I had a good relationship. Stan and I had a good relationship. I did not want to (upset) either one. What do you want me to do in a situation like that? Maybe I was in a lose/lose situation.

“I did not spend a lot of time with Stan. Stan was happy with that. Stan’s a tough man, a demanding man. I am one of his soldiers. One of his generals. I think I tried. I walked away and said both of you are battling in the media game, the players’ game, the ego game.”

Karl has said he wants to be involved in decision making, but does not want to be general manager.

Kroenke’s view

Kroenke has a different view of his relationship with Bearup and Vandeweghe. The owner only agreed to answer questions that were e-mailed to him. Asked why his communication with Vandeweghe last season was delegated through Bearup, he denied that was the case.

“Bret is a close friend of the organization who is respected in many basketball circles,” Kroenke said in an e-mail response. “Kiki and Bret have been friends for years and have confided in each other in the past. But at no point was communication between Kiki and I delegated through Bret.”

Bearup said: “As you know, I have been around a while, and it has been increasing in the past couple of years. It certainly did increase this year. It was never anything said by Stan. It was never anything like that. I’m not here to say communication from Kiki to Stan was not through me. But it was not mandated by Stan.”

Whether it was mandated, several people in the Nuggets’ organization said that’s the way it worked.

“Bret Bearup had a presence in the building, everywhere,” Karl said. “He hung around a lot. I can’t deny that was it (that Vandeweghe communicated to Kroenke only through Bearup). That was the feeling I got. I can’t say where that line of communication completely was. That was something I did not have the ability to fix.”

Bearup, who describes himself as an investment adviser for several groups – particularly athletes – said he helps Kroenke “in any way I can to make the Nuggets successful” and that he is an adviser to Kroenke “when he wants my advice.”

Kroenke does not believe there is a consensus among his franchise that having Bearup around his team without an official title causes confusion or a “who’s side are you on” atmosphere or “can we trust you” feel permeating the organization.

“I am not sure what consensus you are speaking of,” Kroenke said in an e-mail response. “Everyone in our organization is committed to winning and there is no time for separate agendas or in-fighting. Our entire organization is focused on making next season the best in Nuggets history. Everyone is excited about working together, defending our division title and rewarding our fans for their continued support.”

Bearup said: “It’s not Kiki’s camp or George’s camp or Bearup’s camp. It’s a Denver Nuggets camp. I understand the situation that gave rise to people thinking that. It was because Kiki’s contract was up in the same year.”

Karl, asked about the “can we trust you” notion within the organization, said, “I think that’s human nature. I think there are people in the building that it may take five years or so for me to build that kind of trust. I don’t know who is going to survive here. Stan is going to make those decisions. Bret is going to consult him on it. I don’t have a major say on that or view.”

“He’s right,” Bearup said.

The Nuggets’ 11 victories in January buoyed Karl and his team. But at the end of that month they were routed 105-87 at home and 112-79 on the road on consecutive nights by the Clippers.

Karl said: “That shocked us. Hit us hard.”

It was a prelude to February.

A 5-5 month.

A month Karl described in this fashion: “Way too much drama. Way too much off the basketball court and not on it, coupled with injuries. So much drama.”

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